My NTS Journey: John Partee

What was the moment that you knew you made the right decision to come to work here at NTS?

This is probably a bad answer, but a big part of my choosing to work for NTS was that we’re remote first, especially in the software development side of the house.

So, the Northern Lights were visible up in Wisconsin a few weeks ago. I wanted to see them so I booked a hotel room, and as soon as work was done that night, I drove up to Wisconsin and hung out by the pool, working for the rest of the week. Being remote was a huge part of the choice for me so that was the moment.

I love that story. I think it is great to be able to work remotely and I know more and more companies are moving to that, but there is still a lot that want people to come in house and be able to collaborate there as well. Well, I know that you were one of our successful interns. You came on board as an intern through the Skill Bridge program, tell me a little bit about your experience as an intern. I would guess that probably gave you a lot of inside information that maybe an employee just coming in off the street wouldn’t have, wouldn’t you say?

Yeah, that was a really good way of getting my feet wet here. I came into a very technical role as an intern so there was a lot of exposure to new tech that I’d never touched before, just by virtue of being in the military at the time.

That was a great experience. That was a big part of what drew me here. I had worked with NTS in the past already and the Advanced Solutions team struck me as pretty unusual in their space because they were all remote. They were actually developing software, and they’re actually shipping software. There is not a lot of bureaucracy so that’s refreshing.

What’s been one of your proudest moments?

This is a really timely question. Last week, I ran a Python training for one of the contracts that I’ve been working on. I was able to expose a bunch of network engineers to new stuff that they’ve just never touched before. That was one of the most rewarding parts of my old job and it’s been a ton of fun to do that formally, full time, every couple of months with the old team.

What pleasantly surprised you the most about NTS?

The biggest surprise is the culture and leadership aspect of the company. We are definitely a rapidly growing company, but we still are relatively flat in the reporting structure. So, if I have a concern or if I have an idea, I have no fear of just reaching out of bidding and saying, “Hey Biney, here’s an idea. Does this make sense?

I think being able to reach out directly to our Executive Team and know that it’s not only allowable but it’s encouraged. I think it is quite refreshing because a lot of times you don’t get to see or know any of your executives, much less be able to feel comfortable sending them an email. So, it’s great to be able to know that’s, something that is allowable and encouraged, and that you get a response, right? It doesn’t just go into a black hole. I think that is something that tends to surprise a lot of people that I’ve hired since I’ve been here, I think that’s one of the most surprising things for most folks, is that our leadership structure is quite flat.

Totally agreed. Especially coming from military organizations that advertise themselves as flat but often weren’t as flat as advertised. It’s cool to be somewhere that actually delivers on the promise.

Note: John contributes blog posts from time to time. To read his post about DevSecOps click here,  and don’t miss his post about Automating with Python here.

Here at NTS our people are our greatest asset, we invest in our employees and make sure everyone is appreciated, listened to, involved and challenged. Are you ready to join the NTS family? View our current open positions today.